Yuva Sena loses power at Mumbai University to MNS's Vidyarthi Sena

In the elections for the varsity’s student council, held on Tuesday at the Fort campus, Sena’s youth wing Yuva Sena suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of MNS’s Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS).

There are a total of 15 votes of University Representatives (URs) selected from various colleges from Karjat, Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and other areas covered by the university. Five of the URs were absent yesterday, while the MNVS candidates for president Akshay Pujare and secretary Reshma Patil got all the remaining 10 votes.

The Sena candidates Seema Devadiga and Rashmi Sable abstained. The Sena claims that it was in no mood to contest the polls, given the present situation (death of Bal Thackeray).

However, MNVS maintains it has the mandate. “We had the required numbers. The Sena people knew this and so their candidates abstained. We got all the votes; there was this proposal that we should settle for the president’s post and should give the secretary’s seat to them. But when we have the mandate, why should we settle for anything less?” asked MNVS’s Hrishikesh Joshi, the vice-president for their university’s student union.

On the other hand, the Yuva Sena spokesperson said, “Though we were not in a mental state to contest the elections, we haven’t muddied the waters and our service to education will continue.”